Til the Hurt is Gone
by Dr. Jeremiah
Summary: Jeremie is plagued by nightmares and memories of past failures. Will the work filled sleepless nights banish the painful appiritions? JxA Hurt/Comfort Fluff, Oneshot, Long, First Person Limited


_**While shopping for pants this afternoon, I happened to catch a song lyric that was playing over the radio. The lyric was part of some pop/punk song, and it was the last words of the song. The lyric goes as follows. "I will hold you till the hurt is gone." Once I got home, I realized that that was an excellent prompt for a fluffy Hurt Comfort fic. So I present to you, Til' the Hurt is Gone. In case you haven't realized yet, the Factory is my favorite location for Jerlita fic. Also, this is my first attempt at first person limited, so tell me what you think.**_

_**Til' the Hurt is Gone**_

_**Jéremíe Belpois**_

It should have been a normal night, but it wasn't. I was preparing for bed, and had turned out the light. I settled into my bed, and switched on some quiet, calming music, as it helped me sleep. I shut my eyes, and was on the verge of sleep, when images of XANA attacks, activated Towers and a possessed William flickered into my mind's eye. I groaned inwardly. It was going to be one of those nights.

Sighing, I got to my feet, pulled a blue sweater over my pajamas, and quietly opened the door. After a quick glance down both sides of the hallway, I darted to the stairwell. After a few tense moments, he was outside the dorm. The night was overcast, and a sharp crescent moon offered little illumination. Thankfully, the route to the factory was burned into my mind, after many similar sleepless nights. Finally, I approached the looming building's entrance. Leaping into empty space, I slid down the rope, and activated the elevator. As it descended, I leaned against the wall, more images of my failures flickering through my head. Finally the door opened, and I prepared to work myself to exhaustion, to purge the images from my mind. As I spun the chair around, I jumped back, as Aelita started awake, pulling back from the keyboard. Humorously enough, the code that she had been writing ended with a string of unintelligible letters, where Aelita had fallen asleep on the keyboard. I gently reached out, and lightly touched her shoulder, silently inquiring why she was here. She smiled tiredly, but not sincerely and I understood. She too was here to banish unpleasant memories.

_**Aelita Hopper**_

Jéremíe's light touch sent the chair spinning, nearly dropping me onto the floor. After a brief period of shock, I tried to put on a brave smile, but failed, due to the nightmares that plagued me. He seemed to understand, and a sad light entered his eyes. I had stopped having nightmares after finding my father alive, but now they had returned. I chose not to dwell on my problem though, as I was more worried about Jéremíe. He was fragile. He blamed himself for the victory of the Scyphozoa, the possession of William, and on the worst days, the release of XANA itself.

"Jéremíe," I asked, "What are you doing here?"

Jéremíe smiled bitterly, an expression that marred the simple innocence of his face.

"I'm just reliving my mistakes, like I do every night."

Jéremíe stopped, and turned around abruptly. He leaned against the wall and after a moment, made a fist, and punched the wall. At this, I started to grow worried. In all the time that I had known Jéremíe, he rarely resorted to physical manifestations of emotion, preferring to keep a strong face.

I stood, and crossed the room, standing next to him. I placed one hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off, punching the wall again, and bloodying his knuckles. I gasped, but he only stared at the blood dumbly. I turned him around, desperate to see this spiral of self loathing stop. I tried reasoning with him, fighting tears at the apparent futility of my efforts.

"Jéremíe, you have to stop. You found my father, saved Lyoko countless times, and even managed to bring me to Earth." I reached out, pushing his glasses back onto his nose, stopping them from falling off. "How can you call those things mistakes?"

At first, I thought that my words had no effect, and Jéremíe balled his already injured hand into a fist. However, after a moment, his strength seemed to desert him, and he fell against the wall, chest heaving.

_**Jéremíe Belpois**_

I fell against the wall, yet another manifestation of my weakness. Aelita had cut to the core of the issue, as she usually did, and I thanked whatever God was listening for her presence. I suddenly became aware of a stinging pain in my right arm, and I looked down at my hand. It was bleeding, from a large split in the skin of my knuckles. I had hurt myself and not even noticed.

I whirled, and Aelita stepped back in surprise. I began to despair, thinking that I had frightened even my angel, when I caught a glimpse of myself in the polished steel of the Supercomputer. I was gaunt and haggard, dark circles under stood out under my eyes, my hair was disheveled, and my skin pale. I slumped against the wall a second time, attempting to calm myself. It was a gesture in futility. My first attempt at a deep breath simply gave me the air I needed to start sobbing. Hot tears of depression, hate, and self loathing ran down my face. I wailed, I bawled, every moment of shame, failure and disappointment surged to the forefront of my mind. I could feel myself losing my carefully built defenses to the raging wall of abhorrent emotion. I was nearly lost, until I felt Aelita take a firm grip on my shoulders.

_**Aelita Hopper**_

I couldn't bear to see him like this, and in an attempt to bring Jéremíe back from the precipice that he stood on. I took him by the shoulders, and pulled him onto the ground. I sat cross legged, and placed his head in my lap, softly whispering everything that was good about him. He calmed down after a minute, but I continued, silently thrilled at our proximity. For a while, we sat like this, his head in my lap, my hands running through his hair. After a few more minutes, I felt his breathing change, and he began to snore softly. I removed my jacket and folded it into a soft, pillow shape. I placed it beneath his head, and quickly retrieved the blanket that I had been wrapped in, which lay in the computer chair. I snuggled close to Jéremíe, and pulled the blanket over us, silently wrapping my arms around him, and kissing him on the forehead. He smiled in his sleep, and I promised him silently that I would never let him go, and that I would hold him until the hurt was gone.

_**Odd Della Robbia, Yumi Ishiyama, Ulrich Stern**_

"I need to go to the infirmary."

"We'll take him."

Odd, Yumi and Ulrich rushed to the factory, sure that Jéremíe and Aelita's absence had something to do with a XANA attack. When they arrived, they rushed to the elevator, and into the computer room. Rather than be greeted by a determined Jéremíe or a resolute Aelita, instead they found their friends wrapped in a pink blanket, their heads pillowed by a folded sweatshirt. Jéremíe and Aelita slept the sleep of the innocent, undisturbed by the troubles of the world. Odd raised his cell phone, ready to take a picture, but Yumi lowered his hand, smiling.

"Leave them, something happened here that we aren't a part of."

Ulrich nodded, looking not a little wistful, and the three warriors left their friends in peace. For truly, they slept in peace, Jéremíe looking more at peace than he had in weeks, and Aelita silently grateful that she could bring about this change.

_**Fin.**_

_**(A/N)**_

_**Hope you guys enjoyed that, this may or may not be a series, depending on whether or not inspiration strikes among that pants aisle again. I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope that you read and review, **__**Til' the Hurt is Gone.**_


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